Hurricanes focus on power play as Caps come to town

Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network
Peter Koutroumpis, Triangle Sports Network

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Carolina Hurricanes set up their power play units right at the start of practice at PNC Arena on Thursday.

At the tail end of a five-day break since they finished a four-game, eight-day road trip with a 3-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes, Carolina was preparing to host fellow Metropolitan Division foe, the Washington Capitals, on Friday.

“It’s a big divisional game,” Hurricanes head coach Kirk Muller said.

“They’ve always been tight games when we play them. We were just sayin’ that the success on the road trip doesn’t mean anything (or as much as) when you come home. These are the games that you really want to grab. Both teams are aware of it and it should be a good game.”

Watching the puck movement amongst the two primary lines that Muller will probably use with the man-advantage, there are two distinct formations focusing on quick puck movement outside-in-and-back-out before shooting, depending upon how the defense reacts to the situation.

Since the Hurricanes last played the Capitals and beat them 4-1 on Dec. 3, the Hurricanes have tallied three extra-man goals in their last seven games on 21 opportunities.

Tallying a 14-percent success rate during that span, it is hopeful that by moving the puck with more confidence and effectively getting it in the right places at the right times, the rewards reaped will increase accordingly.

“I think the last couple of weeks we’ve felt a little bit better about the power play,” forward Jeff Skinner said.

“I don’t know if the numbers reflect it, but I think we’ve gotten a lot more chances and it’s generated some momentum and some good opportunities on it. The way it’s set up now, I think guys have been movin’ around pretty well. I think Andrej (Sekera) is doing a great job up top and opens up a lot of space for me and Faulker on the side. Hopefully we can build off some of the things we’ve been doing the last couple of weeks and get a couple of goals.”

While both Skinner and Sekera have recorded two of Carolina’s recent power play goals, defenseman Justin Faulk’s looks and shots on goal during practice showed that his time as a productive primary shooter on the special teams unit should come sooner than later.

“That was my role when I was younger in junior and in college,” Faulk said.

While not overlooking the contributions of both Skinner and Sekera in man-advantage situations, Faulk pointed out where the improvements have been coming recently for the Hurricanes in their special teams play in the offensive end.

“I think we’re just competing harder to get loose pucks and get rebounds back. I think if you do that and you recover loose pucks and rebounds, that’s the key to the power play. If you can’t get the puck and set up, you’re not gonna’ score goals. You’re chasin’ pucks out of your own end and just tryin’ to break it in the whole time. When we’re able to work hard and get the pucks back, I think we see more success.”